>Bye Bye July…

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Katie

>July is ALMOST over! It has been so crazy for us, and I can’t believe we’ve actually survived this madness. For those who missed it, here is a recap:

-My friend Lisa got married (wedding, bachelorette party, etc.)
-Awesome July 4th party with youth group and their parents
-Camping, Kings Island (amusement park) and Christian music festival for four days with youth group
-My friend Courtney got married, but I couldn’t go. Extreme guilt sets in.
–Dad turned 57, so we got together to celebrate (read – eat A LOT)
-Family visited from Florida, so we got together to celebrate (read – eat A LOT…again)
–Buster got a urinary tract infection that took us to the emergency room in the middle of the night.
-Buster got a urethral obstruction, has to be at vet (again) for two days.
–We go to Texas with 14 teenagers for a week-long mission trip (post coming soon). Insanity begins.
-Our niece Tayla turns 12, but we are out of town. More guilt sets in.
-We return from Texas, fairly unscathed, but definitely pooped.
-We have our SIXTH wedding anniversary. We celebrate by getting Chinese take-out, and eating in front of the couch. I can feel your jealousy…
–Mom has an emergency appendectomy. Long, boring stays at hospital commence. Work ceases.
-Old friends from SIFAT get in touch to let us know they’re coming through Indy, and can they stay at our house? Absolutely – insanity continues.
-Mom is released from the hospital, so I spend a day waiting for discharge papers, shopping for groceries and filling prescriptions.

You may notice that the above list does not contain any of the following:
-House cleaning
-Laundry
-Church Services
-Weekly youth events
-Sleeping
-Daily hygiene

The house is NOT clean, I’m barely keeping up with laundry, sleeping is fitful, hygiene…what’s that? I have been brushing my teeth, but it’s always while I’m on the toilet and applying deoderant at the same time (I’m mastering this multi-tasking stuff). And church? Does. Not. Stop. EVER.

I have my class reunion this weekend, family visiting from Iowa, Tayla’s birthday celebration with us (called “Tayla Day” – we’re going for pedicures), and THEN I get my vacation…I think. We are currently planning on going to St. Louis next week for a Cardinal game, Tom Petty concert, sightseeing, SLEEPING, etc. We may end up missing out if Mom isn’t feeling well, but her doctor said this morning, “No way in hell would I let some appendectomy keep me from seeing Tom Petty.” Well said Dr. Browne.

SO – If I can just get through the next few days, I am set. The good news is that the next few days are full of fun things. I just wish the fun was more spread out.

When I do a post in September about how boring my life is, will you please slap me across the face with this dead fish I’m posting today to WAKE ME UP?

How scatter-brained was this post? Sorry about that…this is a glimpse into my brain right now! 🙂

>Free Entertainment…the best Pastor Perk

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Katie

>Being in ministry is hard work – not just for Matt. It’s not always fun either. There’s not a lot of money to be made, not a lot of recognition that is received, and definitely not a ton of your typical benefits. HOWEVER, there are some really cool perks. Today, when we went to be with Mom at the hospital, Matt got our parking validated. Only clergy get their parking validated (at this hospital anyway)! It saved us about $9.00. Also, tonight we have some free entertainment at our house since we live next door to the church.

Our church (and therefore our house) is just down the street from a huge ampitheater that hosts huge music groups every year. If a big name is coming to the Indianapolis area, it’s probably coming to Deer Creek (actually – it hasn’t been called “Deer Creek” in years. It’s now the “Verizon Wireless Music Center,” but I refuse to call it that. I grew up going to “Deer Creek,” and I am going to continue to call it that if I want. I digress…).

Because of the location of our church, the local police department frequently sets up a huge sobriety check-point in our parking lot for after big concerts. I swear, every cop in Hamilton County shows up, and they set up the most amazing and elaborate trap I’ve seen! They “randomly” pull five cars out of the string of cars coming from Deer Creek, and make them turn into the parking lot where they will be injected, inspected, detected, infected,neglected and selected. If you are fit to drive, they let you go, BUT if they want to check you out a bit more, you get pulled to the side. That’s where the fun happens! People are put through the usual tests to see if they are drunk or not, and the get hauled away to jail if they are, in fact, inebriated. It’s a lot of fun for us to watch, and we usually do so from the comfort of our garage!

Yes, I do feel like a bit of a hillbilly finding all of this entertaining, but I don’t really care much. Just know that if you ever go to a show at Deer Creek, and you get pulled over in a church parking lot down the street, you can count on one thing:

Matt and I are watching, and laughing our butts off!

>Time to snap…

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Katie

>I am getting so stressed out that I know I’m going to snap at any time. My to-do list is a MILLION miles long, and the time in which I have to check off my tasks is growing increasingly short. There are work things, home things, church things, class reunion things, and I don’t have enough time to get them all done! 4 newsletters to publish, 78 pastor interviews to schedule, church clusters to create, a mission trip to prepare for, a cat who is sick and needs special care, wedding gifts to buy, bills to pay, laundry to do, a house to clean, mailings to send out, Dad’s birthday to celebrate, meetings to attend, and OH YEAH, did I mention we’re probably getting a dog soon? Yeah. I’m that crazy.